Never Part
by Small Chemist
Summary: Edward’s silly hopeful smile Alphonse had come to appreciate had faded into a forced reluctance. Edward reminises on his childhood in Amestris. Post Series.


**Never Part**

_And we held each other and laughed: like we'd never part._

Edward closed the little brown book, resting the fountain pen beside his stories. It had been two years since Edward had crossed over from Amestris into Munich. Two long years without Al, Winry, Auntie Pinako, the military, auto-mail, or alchemy was pressing down on Edward's chest, filling his heart with despair. In Edward's grief, the idea he might never be able to return home seemed a less foreign concept now.

Alphonse Heiderich had begun to notice his friend's gradual change in demeanor. Edward's silly hopeful smile Alphonse had come to appreciate had faded into a forced reluctance. Edward knew Alphonse had suspected something two days ago when questioned straight out of the blue whether he would mind if Al walked him home that day. Edward shook his head embarrassed and placed the smile on, speaking in clumsy German words. "_Nein. Ich bin fein, Aru_." Edward never did get the hand of pronunciation, though Alphonse understood.

"You don't have to speak German with me. I didn't study English for nothing, you know." Al said confidently. English did fit the German boy's tongue in credibly well.

"Ah, yes. But then who would I practice on?" Edward replied lightheartedly, although his eyes remained sullen.

"_O.K., aber entspannen sich wenig_." Alphonse advised. Edward nodded, his drawn on smile fading slightly.

"Yeah…Aru…." Edward said before turning to leave his friend's workshop.

"Hey, Ed." Edward turned around just in time to catch the small book his friend had thrown at him. Edward opened its pages. Every one was blank.

"What is it?"

"Storybook. Write down those adventures you told me. I bet they'd sell like hot cakes." Alphonse graced him with a grin. "Read them when you're down. I'm sure those memories will inspire your dreams once again, Edward. Have faith."

Edwards face brightened as he thanked the blue-eyed boy and left the dusty home for his father's.

Edward's meeting with Alphonse seemed a long way away, the blonde boy thought as he blew out the candle stationed beside his bed.

Crawling under the blankets, Edward brought his book with him, holding his memories close to his heart as he dreamed of the far away fantasy his life had become.

_Alphonse and I ran as far as we could towards that pretty blonde girl's house, before we collapsed outside the estate, catching our breath._

"_See brother?" Al panted, pointing towards the highest window in the Rockbell home. I glanced up towards the building before letting out a frustrated puff of air._

"_I still don't think she's up there." I declared, glancing at Al._

"_She has to be up there!" Al said, standing up. I gave him a look._

"_Why there?"_

"_Because princesses are always at the top of the highest tower!" I stared at Al like he was crazy. After a minute or so, I sort of understood._

"_Yeah, alright. But I want to be the knight this time." I said, standing up straight and proud. Al whined for a minute while I struck the most heroic poses that came to mind. I had to look good for the princess when I saved her. It was my job. _

"_Brother, hurry up!" Al was already running ahead of me, and there was no way I was about to let him be the hero. I reached the house moments after Al, and pouted because he had gotten to use the knocker. Mom said not use the knocker twice unless it was really important._

_An old woman opened the door, staring at us with some amusement._

"_Ah. So the Elric brothers have finally come for a visit. I've only just met your mother, a very nice woman. Would you too like to come inside?"_

"_Is there a princess in there?" I blurted out, looking inside the house. Al nodded encouragingly from behind me._

_The old woman smiled, and opened the door wider._

"_You're welcome to find out for yourself." She said and let the two blonde intruders into her home. Al and I immediately ran upstairs to search for the girl we had seen Mom talking to yesterday._

_At the top of the steps we saw the blonde haired girl playing with a black puppy. She looked at us with wonder as I pointed dramatically at the dog._

"_Princess!" I shouted, "Get away from the beast-monster! We're here to rescue you!" The girl stared at me for a minute, but then giggled and said ok. Al suddenly walked up from behind me and looked the girl up and down._

"_What's your name?" He said, while I lowered my invisible sword._

"_Winry." Said the girl and stood up, brushing her sundress down._

"_I'm Edward." I said, playing my part and standing straight and proud. "Oh, and this is Al!" I said pointing to my brother. He waved and said Hello. I immediately began to get anxious because the castle was going to fall down soon, and grabbed Winry's hand, "Come one, we have to leave." I ignored Al's cries of, "brother, brother!" as I pulled Winry after me down the stairs._

"_Brother!" Al cried once more, and I finally turned around to glare at Al who was delaying the princess's escape._

"_What?"_

"_The beast-monster got me!" Al shouted. Winry screamed dramatically._

"_We have to save him!" Winry was always fun to play with. Winry and I ran back up the stairs and pulled Al away from the yawning dog, who was really the beast bearing his sharp teeth at us and getting ready to eat us for dinner. We clasped hands and formed a chain of children, myself leading naturally and pulled each other outside of the crumbling Rockbell castle. I kept pulling them until we reached the long grass by the fence and fell into it, laughing like there was no tomorrow._

"_Aha we escaped!" I smugly declared as Al and Winry sat down beside me. Winry giggled again, and Al looked at me seriously. I looked back at him and suddenly we both knew what had happened._

"_Noo!" I shouted, and jumped up away from Al with Winry looking at me curiously. "Al was bitten by the beast-monster!" I gasped, and Al started howling in-between his giggles. A moment later, Al had pounced on top of me and we were rolling on the ground with Winry clapping enthusiastically behind us. _

"_Gotcha!" said Al, pinning me to the grass. I never could win a fight with Al, as hard as I tried. I tried pretty hard, too. Al let me go and I sat up, all casual-like. A few seconds later I tackled Al and we went sprawling onto the ground once more. Winry joined us too, trying to defeat the beast-Al, but it only took a minute or so before we stopped, tiring easily. _

_And we held each other and laughed: like we'd never part._


End file.
